PlayBook: A Tablet With a Case Of Codependency | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

RIM rushes the PlayBook to market and ends up delivering something akin to the ill-fated Palm Foleo

But that isn’t the biggest distinction between the PlayBook and the other tablets. This first edition of the PlayBook has no built-in cellular data connection and lacks such basic built-in apps as an email program, a contacts program, a calendar, a memo pad and even RIM’s popular BlackBerry Messenger chat system.

To get these features with your $500 PlayBook, you must use it with a nearby BlackBerry phone connected to it wirelessly over a short-range Bluetooth connection. Once this link is made, these critical applications pop up on the PlayBook’s screen, via a system called Bridge.

PlayBook: A Tablet With a Case Of Codependency | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD